


Listen to my Story

by MAPMonstersArePerceptions



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, Luna is an investigative reporter, Once Upon A Time, Something's off with this diary, Then Myrtle died, Tom liked history?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-01-01
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:00:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28487946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MAPMonstersArePerceptions/pseuds/MAPMonstersArePerceptions
Summary: Companion piece to Beware the Lighthouse, takes place in Harry's second year.  A third unmentioned person wrote in the diary, but instead of taking Tom at his word, Luna asked the hard questions.Just a short what-if in which Ginny lent the diary to a friend.
Relationships: Moaning Myrtle & Tom Riddle
Comments: 8
Kudos: 7
Collections: DA's Found Family - Make The Yuletide Gay





	Listen to my Story

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Beware the Lighthouse](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28103298) by [MAPMonstersArePerceptions](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MAPMonstersArePerceptions/pseuds/MAPMonstersArePerceptions). 
  * In response to a prompt by [KrysKrossZee](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KrysKrossZee/pseuds/KrysKrossZee) in the [FoundFamilyMakeTheYuletideGay](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/FoundFamilyMakeTheYuletideGay) collection. 



> **Prompt:**
> 
> Disappear from Dear Evan Hansen
> 
> Thanks to Seth Wren for beta-ing this!

Luna Lovegood dipped the quill carefully in her favorite rainbow-colored ink as she sat beside Black Lake. The Blibbering Humdingers were particularly loud this evening, warning her to be cautious. The little black diary sitting on the grass in front of her seemed to whisper enticingly, “Write in me, write in me”. Under normal circumstances, she would never write in another’s journal; doing so tended to ruin the magical vibrations surrounding it, but Ginevra Weasley, one of her few friends, had insisted that she use it “over the weekend” as a safe place to vent about the various Crumple-Horned Snorkacks that enjoyed hiding her shoes. And so, Luna Lovegood began:

_Dear Diary,_

_My name is Luna Lovegood._

Luna paused there, chewing on the end of the quill. Sometimes, she had trouble communicating about her problems; she saw the world in such a different way that most could not understand her. It was why she hadn’t tried to go to Professor Flitwick about the Snorkack infestation in the Ravenclaw dorms and why she had such difficulty figuring out how to word things now. 

Suddenly, the words she had written seemed to seep into the pages of the book, and new words appeared. While the ink was the same, the handwriting was quite distinct from hers. 

**_Hello Luna, my name is Tom. Tell me about yourself. Your friend, Ginny, is concerned about you._ **

Luna held her quill above the page, considering. A single drop of ink fell onto the page causing ‘Tom’s’ words and the drop to fade. The Blibbering Humdingers seemed to roar in her ear. There was something off about Tom, his lack of body being only part of the issue. Luna needed to know more without giving too much about herself. Sometimes Daddy had to take on a fake persona in order to get to the bottom of a case. Perhaps she could do the same? Because of Ginny, Tom probably already knew some basics about Luna, but she could work around that.

_Please, call me Dawn. I’ve recently decided that I prefer to be associated with the sun rather than the moon._

Luna began her opening gambit. Being called Dawn, a name that did not suit her at all, would help to remind her that she wanted to gain information about Tom without giving away too much about herself. A solitary raindrop, the precursor to a delightful autumn storm, fell onto the page.

**_Why do you cry, Dawn? Tell me what troubles you._ **

Carefully bottling up her supplies, Luna packed everything away and dashed towards the school. Tom’s belief that she was crying could be a great boon, but not if the rain soaked the page and gave away the trick. She entered just as the clouds let loose their torrent. It seemed as though a flock of thunderbirds must be flying over the castle, but Luna didn’t have time to focus on that. She had to get to the library where she could continue her interrogation in peace. 

Spreading her supplies on a small table in the back of the library, Luna opened the book. What troubles Dawn, what troubles Dawn…

Luna presented the sob story to end all sob stories. One of the older students in Ravenclaw had discovered a potion that would reveal students’ magical strengths and ancestry. While Dawn was shown to have Beastspeak and several other neat gifts awaiting her to unlock them, she was also discovered to be adopted and not a Pureblood after all. Her classmates considered her inferior and thought that her sullied blood was a good excuse to tease her since her academics were continually above expectations even for the Ravenclaw House. Dawn begged Tom not to tell Ginny about her hidden heritage, unable to bear it if Ginny treated her differently as well. 

Background firmly established, Luna was able to commence questioning Tom.

_Enough about me,_ she wrote. _I want to know about you. This diary looks really old. How long have you been in there? What are your friends like?_ She probed. 

**_It has been at least fifty years since I was formed. I don’t believe any have asked me about my friendships before. Truthfully, I didn’t have many friends. I grew up in less than ideal circumstances, and it was a challenge to gain acceptance by my housemates. Certain special abilities allowed me to silence the naysayers and gain followers, but actual friends whose interest in me was not connected with my unique skills were few indeed._ **

_That sounds lonely. Were it not for your delightful diary, it seems as though you would have been destined to be forgotten without real connections? Did you not have anyone?_

**_I did but even had I not, I took steps to ensure my name would be remembered by wizardkind. Enough about me. Perhaps you would like to discuss ways to convince your fellows to cease their cruel actions against you?_ **

_Maybe another time. It’s time for class._ Luna excused herself from the conversation. Tom obviously did not wish to tell her about his friend which only made her inner reporter want to dig more. What could he be hiding?

The next time Luna wrote in the diary, the ink was not rainbow-colored but a drab mustard yellow with flecks of red, a gift from Daddy in honor of her first investigation. 

_I can’t sleep._ Lu-Dawn wrote. _Ginny is being distant. Tell me about your friends?_

There was a pause as the ink faded, and then the book began to shake. Tom seemed to be fighting something. A minute later, everything settled, and his response began to paint the page. No longer did he write with the smooth penmanship of a gentleman. His writing took on a more block-style as though every word was being forced out of him.

**_I had one. No more, no less. I must admit that her interest in me was very intensely focused, made even more so by our having to meet in secret. We were in different houses, you see, and it would have brought ridicule on both our heads had we been more open with our interactions. I did not fully appreciate at the time her value, but without her, I would not be here today._ **

_You mentioned that you took steps to ensure you would be remembered throughout the ages. Is your friend similarly protected from the passage of time?_

**_Myrtle took care to ensure her own immortality herself. She reminds me somewhat of you. Both of you are Eagles who have been treated poorly by your nestmates. Both of you seem to soar above the rest and have an innate curiosity that refuses to be sated. Myrtle delighted in helping me to find hidden passageways and historical artifacts in the school. There was a time when I was only interested in the founder of my house; because of her, the worth of the other founders was brought to my attention as well, even if house pride forces me to still consider mine the best. Because of her, I spent a season contemplating becoming something more than I am. Though I did not deserve her regard and could not fully reciprocate it, I remember entertaining thoughts about replacing Binns as much as I did our DADA professor. It would have offered a different form of greatness than the road I ultimately took, but greatness nonetheless. I imagined working alongside Myrtle to uncover the mysteries of the past. We would have shared them with the world and been the greatest historians in the history of wizardkind. It could have been a fulfilling life. Thrilling even. Alas, whilst I walked the line allowing both futures to hold a part of me, they began to converge in my search for Slytherin’s hidden sanctuary._ **

The script began to lose its blocky quality. His next paragraph was almost immediately crossed out by the phantom hand that wrote it. 

~~**_When Myrtle died to Slytherin’s monster, I became irrevocably changed. It split me into two, and the side that imagined a future focused on events of the long-forgotten past withered and died. My experiment in following the ideals of my ancestors became who I had to be. 'Twas easier to blame Myrtle’s family history and substandard magical ability for her death than to acknowledge my role._ ** **** ~~

~~**_I don’t_ ** ~~ **_I cannot understand what caused me to share such with you, Dawn._ ** Tom seemed shaken but quickly changed directions. **_My apologies for oversharing. Perhaps we could talk of how I made Myrtle’s bullies suffer for treating her harshly? Ginny has told me of your magical prowess and that you were able to_ ** **convince** **_me to share such only confirms to me your abilities. I believe that together we could put a stop to those who would seek to harm you._ **

Luna just smiled. She’d read enough to know that Tom was not the benevolent listening ear he pretended to be. Ginny would be disappointed when she did not return the diary, no doubt, but she had to do what she had to do. Luna had a sneaking suspicion about Tom’s identity due to his obvious obsession with being remembered to the point of immortality, and Ginny ought not to have anything more to do with the malevolent force. 

Before getting rid of it—and making the Blibbering Humdingers very happy, no doubt—Dawn had one final message to share with Tom. Trading the mustard yellow for rainbow, Dawn wrote:

_I’m concerned for you, Tom. It sounds like you are carrying a lot of guilt around. It’ll do you good to apologize._

Closing the diary without waiting for his response, Luna skipped happily to the second-floor lavatory and threw the little book to Moaning Myrtle. No one ever used this bathroom, and it seemed fitting that Tom be reunited with the one who almost changed history. Luna just hoped that in time Moaning Myrtle’s name could overshadow Tom’s. His first victim deserved to be remembered so much more than her killer. 

As Luna walked back towards her dorm, she made plans to visit the ghost. But first, she had to find her missing left shoe. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Take a moment to leave a review :)


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